Brett Raguse (Forde, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to talk about the LPG Vehicle Scheme, particularly in relation to my electorate of Forde. I have talked on a number of occasions about the diverse nature of my electorate—the high-density urban areas in the north and the rural holdings to the south—and how difficult it is for people to move around the electorate, given that our road infrastructure is fairly poor. We have probably a dozen significant townships within the electorate of Forde, but there is poor road connectivity—and public transport, of course, is almost non-existent. So it probably comes down to more of an issue of mobility. While I have been advocating for a better plan for public transport, we know now that the effect of global oil prices is getting to the stage where people are finding it very, very difficult, particularly in electorates like mine and the many other large electorates across the country, where there are large distances to travel and there is a lack of public transport.

What I have decided to do, certainly in my electorate, is to further promote this scheme, which gives rebates to people who want their vehicles to run on LPG. There is a $2,000 rebate for conversions of new or existing petrol vehicles and a $1,000 rebate for new vehicles that are built to run on LPG. A conversion will cost people around $2½ thousand to $3,000. So the $2,000 rebate does go a long way towards it but there is a certain amount of money that needs to be provided. But the average trip within my electorate is long—it can take an hour or an hour and a quarter to drive across the electorate. And, as I said, there is a lack of public transport. So I encourage conversion to LPG, certainly as a short-term measure, although we know, when we look at the fuel industry and at alternative fuels, that we need to put in place a longer term plan. But essentially this will give some people relief right now. The daily news is about the high prices of fuel being experienced in capital cities, and that is not a good thing, but in electorates like Forde, where people are absolutely dependent on their cars—quite often, in a family, two cars—it is very serious.

The cost of these conversions becomes more viable when you look at the average distances that are travelled within my electorate. Probably within three to six months people will recoup the difference between the rebate and the cost of the conversion to gas. I am encouraging people in my electorate to look at this as an alternative, certainly as a short-term measure. Consequently we will be running out a number of public displays that the LPG industry are going to provide to us to give good information and allow people to look at the financial considerations of making such a conversion. This is an initiative that the government has supported and I am very much supporting it, certainly for the people of Forde. I encourage people to look at this as a financial option for them.